There are many strange elements in the current debate over illegal immigration, but none stranger than the mostly ignored role of Mexico.

Are millions of Mexican citizens still trying to cross the U.S. border illegally because there is dismal economic growth and a shortage of jobs in Mexico?

Not anymore. In terms of the economy, Mexico has rarely done better, and the United State rarely worse.

The Mexican unemployment rate is currently below 5 percent. North of the border it remains stuck at over 7 percent for the 53rd consecutive month of the Obama presidency. The American gross domestic product has been growing at a rate of less than 2 percent annually. In contrast, a booming Mexico almost doubled that in 2012, its GDP growing at a robust clip of nearly 4 percent.

Victor Davis Hanson

Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a recipient of the 2007 National Humanities Medal

Yet Mexico counts on these expatriate poor to send back well over $20 billion in annual remittances — currently the third-largest source of Mexican foreign exchange.

Multibillion-dollar annual remittances from America fill a void that the Mexican government has created by not extending the sort of housing, education or welfare help to its own citizens that America provides to foreign residents.

In truth, many thousands of Mexicans flee northward not necessarily because there are no jobs, or because they are starving at home. America offers them far more upward mobility and social justice than does their own homeland. And for all the immigration rhetoric about race and class, millions of Mexicans vote with their feet to enjoy the far greater cultural tolerance found in the U.S.

Indigenous people make up a large part of the most recent wave of Mexican arrivals. Those who leave provinces like Oaxaca or Chiapas apparently find the English-speaking, multiracial U.S. a fairer place than the hierarchical and often racially stratified society of Mexico.

If we had a good man at the top, the Mexicans would trade us their oil (expropriated from American oilcos) discounted to $20/barrel in exchange for us handling their social problems. Every time an illegal alien sneaks in, we are in effect, robbed twice.

BTW, according to our law, the offspring of illegal aliens are NOT, that's not, citizens.

Its a worldwide phenomena. Third world peoples whenever possible migrate toward Western Europe or North America. May be politically incorrect to state but, despite all the claims of racism, living with or in close proximity to whites leads to a much more secure and fulfilling life.

In July 2003, then-congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado)gave Insight Magazine the following account of his conversation in Mexico with Juan Hernandez, head of the newly created Ministry of Mexicans Living in the United States. According to Mr. Tancredo:

I asked about the purpose of the government agency he heads, since I had never heard of such a thing. He said its purpose is to increase the flow of Mexican nationals to the United States. I asked, Why?

"It serves Mexico's needs, he said, and ticked off a list of such things as remittances to Mexico of $10 billion a year, which is 30 percent of the Mexican GDP [gross domestic product]. It provides employment for an exploding population, it alleviates social instability due to rising unemployment and it provides training for Mexicans, ultimately repatriating those skills back to Mexico.

"I responded to his final aim - repatriation of trained and skilled Mexicans back into Mexico - and asked, Then your government would oppose amnesty for the illegal Mexicans in the United States?

"He cried, Oh no! We support amnesty totally. . . . by populating the United States with millions of Hispanics who are tied economically, politically and linguistically to Mexico, we are able to exert enormous influence and pressure on U.S. policy and its dealings with Mexico.

"President Vicente Fox believes the U.S. border is a figment of the imagination. In fact, Fox and/or members of his government stated at one point that the borders of Mexico extend much farther north than currently drawn on the map.

The pay is much cheaper but, so is the cost of living. We sell many factories just over the US border into Mexico that buy pine boards. There is a lot of furniture, kitchen cabinet doors, picture frames, etc. made in Mexico. Many of these factories are set up just over the border with 95% of the products sent back into the US. Some of the best kitchen cabinet parts are made in Mexico and then assembled in the US. This is all driven by the lower labor/manufacturing/benefits cost. Also, many of these manufacturers set up secure areas around their factories where they have armed guards to protect their workers and their families. They live, work, go to school all in these gated, walled, safe compounds.

Another fact that was brought to my attention recently is that Monterrey is now the second largest city in Mexico. Many people have moved there for work away from Mexico City and other places. I have a friend that grew up there but moved to the US(legally with green card) back in the 1990’s. His family still lives there. Monterrey’s population has grown by a million people in just the last few years. This growth is due to its proximity to the US and the manufacturing growth of jobs there in the last 5-10 years.

Libs have been trying to convince us of this for some time now. Why would anyone want to go back and live in that lawless, third world, hell hole? Immigrants come here and they see nirvana. They also learn that it is very easy to get on the welfare train.

The truth about Mexico is that it suffers from “Old Europe Disease”, in which there are two social classes: the very rich, who control everything; and the poor, or “everybody else”.

But that, by itself, is not a real problem or a divisive one. The real disease is that their very rich strive to remain an exclusive club, by keeping others out. Denying them earned promotion and wealth. “Keeping them down”

This is the real Old Europe Disease.

The mindset that if your are wealthy, unless your wealth is an island surrounded by a sea of poverty, it is somehow diminished. That in your mansion on the hill, unless you can look out your window at the poverty, and yes, hate filled protests at you and your wealth, your riches lose their savor.

You champagne loses its bubbles. Your caviar becomes bland. Your fine art looks dull. And all because there is a shortage of contrast between your wealth and everyone else’s poverty.

This is not limited to Mexico, either. You’ll notice that the great economics conferences are always held in great buildings in big cities, where the poor are incited to protest. Just once such a meeting was held in a grand castle in a rural area, and despite its luxury, it was not enjoyed.

Compare multi-billionaire Bill Gates to Mexican multi-billionaire Carlos Slim. Gates has probably indirectly created a dozen or two billionaires, hundreds of multimillionaires, thousands or even tens of thousands of millionaires. He doesn’t mind one bit.

Carlos Slim has never intentionally or indirectly creates a single one, who wasn’t already a relative or close friend already wealthy. And Slim just doesn’t grasp why anyone with money would *allow* such an enrichment to happen.

Importantly, while Slim is a “King Midas” in Mexico, all of his investments in the US have been disasters. He just does not grasp how we do things here.

But this is the bottom line to Mexicans. No matter how smart, hard working, inventive or industrious they are, in Mexico they will never hit it big. They *must* come to America if they want to do that.

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